Couples Elizabeth and Nathaniel Smalley and Brittney and Matthew Huey have been teaching swing dancing almost every Monday night for two years. They have been using the Hotel San Carlos as their venue for 14 months, said Nathaniel Smalley.
“You swing dance and hang out in a venue built in the same era that swing dance came out of,” Smalley said. “It’s all authentic.”
Swing Night begins at 7:30 p.m. every Monday with an introductory swing dance lesson for an $8 cover charge. At 8:30 p.m., the lesson ends and more dancers arrive for open dance until 11 p.m.
“It’s a great way to get out and meet people,” Smalley said.
ASU management sophomore P.G. Santiago agrees.
“Swing is social dancing so it’s easy to come alone,” he said. Santiago enjoys Swing Night because he feels it is a place he can “let loose and use a lot of energy.”
Before he started attending Swing Night, Santiago was already a tango dancer.
“Swing is muscle memory,” he said. “The biggest barrier to entry is being able to ask someone to dance.”
The Savoy Hop Cats’ swing lesson made this easy. The dancers paired up and stood in a circle around the instructors, watching the steps and mimicking them without music at first. Then, they tried each step with music before moving on to the next one. The dancers rotated partners with each new step and sometimes even more often.
“You don’t have to know anything about swing dancing or have a partner,” Smalley said. The event is designed so that anyone can walk in with no prior dancing experience and be prepared to spend the rest of the night swing dancing.
By the end of the lesson, even beginner dancers mastered the basic steps of East Coast Swing as well as three different turns and a kick step.
“Once you get the basics you can apply them to anything,” said Pearlette Ramon, second-time swing dancer. “It’s clean, honest fun. You don’t know each other, but it’s not awkward to dance with strangers.”
“It’s a great workout without going to the gym,” said Andrea Carney, who discovered Swing Night through a Google search when she was new in town and looking for something to do.
According to Stan Hillhouse, one of the more experienced swing dancers in Monday’s group, the tempo for beginners is key –– the music is slow enough to learn to dance, and quick enough to keep you moving once you’ve learned.
According to Smalley’s estimates, the event gets 10-30 new faces every week and the total average turnout is 30-50 people.
In addition to Swing Night, the Savoy Hop Cats host a Thursday evening swing night called Cafe le Swing on Mill Avenue in Tempe.
The Savoy Hop Cats also have several big events each year with attendance of more than 200 people. The special events include their house band, the Savoy Swingdicate, various vendors and photo booths.
“It’s America’s truly original dance,” said Smalley.
